Brazil Politics & Government News

Brazil’s opposition needs generational and policy change if it is to stay relevant (The Economist).

Senators from the Special Committee on Political Reform approved the adoption of the Closed-List Proportional electoral system (Federal Senate).

Dilma Rousseff trusts a Truth Commission can be set up and working before the end of the year to investigate crimes and human rights abuses committed during the military dictatorship which extended from 1964 to 1985 (MercoPress).

Dilma Rousseff said her country is firmly cracking down on corruption, but a lot remains to be done. “It looks like corruption is increasing, but what really is increasing is the investigation and identification of criminals,” she said in her weekly column “Conversation with the President,” which is published by many newspapers in Brazil (Xinhua).

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INTERNATIONAL

MILA, the newly combined stockmarket of Chile, Peru and Colombia, is the most tangible sign of a growing closeness between three fast-growing, medium-sized South American countries with Pacific coastlines that now aspire to form a common market. It might form an alternative pole of attraction to Brazil (The Economist).

Brazil’s government emphatically refused to suspend work on a huge hydroelectric dam in the Amazon, despite pleas by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that the project could displace tens of thousands of indigenous people and cause environmental harm (New York Times).

More than 20 Islamic extremists connected to al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups are using Brazil as a base to hide, raise money or plan attacks, according to leaked documents (Telegraph).

Islamic extremist groups such as Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas are illegally operating in the Triple Frontier area shared by Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, where they allegedly gather large amounts of money, recruit new militants and plan additional attacks, Brazilian magazine Veja denounced (MercoPress).

China is rapidly expanding its presence in Brazil, surpassing the United States as the South American giant’s biggest biggest investor and trade partner. Published ahead of a planned visit by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to China next month, a report said Chinese firms have announced investments of nearly $30 billion in Brazil, including $8.6 billion currently under negotiation (AFP).

Dilma Rousseff and her Chinese peer Hu Jintao will address the Libyan crisis and other issues related to the Chinese currency, Yuan, which has Brazilian manufacturers most concerned, anticipated the Brazilian Foreign Affairs ministry (MercoPress).

About 300 Brazilian businesspeople from various sectors will join the delegation that will be in China between April 11 and 15. One of the main aims of the mission is to increase and diversify exports from Brazil, which last year earned US$ 335.3 billion for the country. China is now the world’s second-largest economy and Brazil’s most important trade partner (Portal Brasil).

Brazil hopes to see the countries of BRICS, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, strengthen as their importance grows on the international stage, a Brazilian diplomat said. China will host the third BRICS Leaders’ Meeting on April 14 in Sanya, a city in China’s southern island province of Hainan (Xinhua).

DEFENSE

President Dilma Rousseff strongly supported the need to spend money on defence at a time when she is making big budget cuts in many area. Rousseff told the audience it would be a “big mistake” to consider spending on upgrading military technology to be an “idle effort.” Rousseff said that Brazil needs a strong military to defend its new offshore oil reserves, as well as guarantee the security of the vast Amazon region (MercoPress).

LAAD – Defence & Security, the most important trade show for the defence and security industry in Latin America – takes place every two years bringing together Brazilian and international companies that specialise in supplying equipment and services to all three major services of the Armed Forces, Police, special forces and security services, as well as consultants and government agencies. LAAD next week in Rio celebrates its 8th edition confirming its significance as an indispensable debating forum and a venue for presenting the state of art in defence and security technology (LAAD).

Embraer has chosen ELEB Equipamentos Ltda. to develop and produce the landing gear of the new KC-390 military transport jet. The contract was signed last week in São José dos Campos, in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, where both companies have their head offices (Embraer).